How Soon Is Now? How To Overcome Procrastination!
I was an 80s teenager! I loved (and still love), Prince, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees and of course The Smiths. Musically a time of innocence and honesty, in my opinion – I digress…
Of late the title to one of The Smiths songs has returned to me time and time again. How soon is now? It’s a beautiful oxymoron.
How often do we plan to do something and put it off, sometimes indefinitely, and feel crap about ourselves as a consequence. How does it make you feel when that happens?
When we procrastinate and kid ourselves that we will do it sometime, someday, in the future we can feel crest fallen when we don’t. Frankly, I’ve been there many times in the past, and still do from time to time!
The consequence of persistent procrastination:
When it happens consistently, I believe it erodes our confidence and self-esteem. There is a correlation between procrastination with expectancy. Those of us with low self-efficacy, feelings of incompetence, are more likely to procrastinate.
“At least 95% of us procrastinate at least occasionally and about 15-20% of us do it consistently and problematically”. ”
When we procrastinate consistently we can wind up believing the inner critic that says “I’m not good enough” or “I’ll never change”. It’s like the drip, drip, drip of the tap that needs a new washer, if not fixed then the flood gates will open unexpectedly. Left unchecked it can have a really negative impact on many areas of our lives.
When we procrastinate regularly, we may begin to believe that we won’t change, even when we make promises to ourselves and others, or journal and set goals around it.
When I think of the anxiety and stress that procrastination has caused me in the past, it really makes me wonder – why do we do this to ourselves? I’ve put things off or even failed to do them and it has eroded my belief in myself to achieve – get the job done. Over the past few years I have increasingly taught myself to just do it. Make a start it!
What causes procrastination and how do we overcome it?
If we desire to lead a purposeful life, rather than live by default, clarity about our direction and goals is paramount. It’s tough to get excited and motivated to make progress if we are unclear on where we are headed!
Sure, we can course-correct, when we take a wrong turn, there’s no harm in that. In fact we can learn important life lessons that way, BUT when it’s too frequent it becomes disheartening and a time drain.
There are certainly correlations between motivation, impulsivity, a low tolerance threshold, self-efficacy and procrastination. Getting clear on our tendencies and learning some strategies to manage them is a great starting point!
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to” said the cat.
“I don’t much care where...” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go” said the cat.”
Specific reasons for procrastination:
It’s difficult or unenjoyable : If you’re working on something challenging, then you are likely to lack motivation, because we are like doing things that we enjoy! You may put it off and opt for something that you find easier or satisfying, or tell yourself that you can’t do it. The problem lies in when this is something that we need to do, we all have these jobs!
Time consuming: Similarly, if something is going to take up a lot of your time, then you simply keep putting it off for later and reassure yourself that you can’t commit that amount of time to it right now.
Perfectionism: If you have a tendency towards perfectionism, then everything requires a HUGE amount of time and effort. You may procrastinate due to fears around difficulty in “perfecting” it. Of course perfectionism is unachievable and subjective, so this can be a set up for failure.
Fear of failure or success! - Fear of failure can be paralyzing. Our inner critic can have a field day with this one! Especially, when we have performed poorly at a similar task in the past. We may convince ourselves to avoid doing it completely to avoid the discomfort.
If you succeed then you have to repeat your success and feel susceptible to scrutiny from others as you become more visible. It may seem easier to ignore the task than think about these things.
Frustration – There is a strong correlation between procrastination and those who have a low frustration threshold, and know something will be difficult, challenging or frustrating, you may just move on to something more entertaining. Something that doesn’t cause so much emotional discomfort.
Top Tips to Smash Procrastination!
Progress over perfection – Often we strive for unattainable perfection. Our tendency towards it can put us off starting a new project, finding our purpose or even self-care. Make a start! Remind yourself that it’s rare to arrive at the finished article without some hard work, rehashing and editing. Over time you will improve what you are working on. It’s part and parcel of self-mastery!
Reframe goals - Especially if you are not enjoying the task at hand. Reframe it in terms of what you want to achieve rather than what you are trying to avoid. Be creative by making tasks more interesting. Reward yourself by celebrating all the wins, big and small!
Break it down – We tend to see the present as concrete and the future as nebulous and abstract. If the final goal is months away, we’ll likely keep pushing the tasks into the future, then we may experience anxiety around not having enough time to finish it. When we break down into manageable actions and strategies, towards a larger goal, it’s more likely to get done - more managable.
No one writes a book in one sitting! It takes planning, strategizing and focusing on one chapter at a time. A journey of writing a book start with writing one page. It’s the same with achieving our goals.
Mindfulness – Use mindfulness or similar practices to help you return to the present and assist you to manage any overwhelming or self-defeating thoughts. Breathe into any challenging feelings and allow them to be, observe them without allowing them to take over and focus on your breath to ground you.
Success Spiral - Setting an ongoing series of challenges, ultimately achievable actions towards larger goals, that maximise our motivation and make the achievement meaningful. Start with quick wins to aid motivation. The more success we experience the more we will feel motivated to continue.
Manage short term impulses – This includes removing distractions such as social media when you working on a time sensitive project. Awareness is key. Taking a few breaths and think it through before ‘reacting to the impulsive urge’. And remember to reward yourself. E.g. once I’ve completed a planned task I will treat myself to my favourite programme or walk in nature.
***email me and share what tips you plan to integrate or if you would like to jump on a complimentary no obligation call to discuss working together to smash your goals***